Valve device

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to a valve device, in particular a double stop-check valve, preferably of the two-way valve type, comprising at least three fluid connections ( 1, 2, 3 ) provided in a valve housing ( 51 ), at least two valve elements ( 65, 67 ) that can slide in the valve housing ( 51 ), and at least one control device ( 71 ) for controlling the valve elements ( 65, 67 ). The valve is characterized in that at least one of the valve elements ( 65, 67 ) forms, together with parts ( 59/61 ) of the valve housing ( 51 ), a seat leak-tight closure part for the associated fluid connections ( 1, 2, 3 ).

The invention relates to a valve device, in particular an unlockable double check valve, preferably of the two-way valve type, comprising at least three fluid connections provided in a valve housing, at least two valve elements that are displaceable in the valve housing, and at least one control device for controlling the respective valve elements.

Valve devices of this type are state of the art. Such valve devices are used as two-way valves in hydraulic and pneumatic circuits, in which a logical OR link of pressure signals is required. Two-way valves have two inlet connections and one outlet connection on the valve housing. The two-way valve has two defined switch positions. In each switch position, an inlet connection to the assigned valve element is always closed and the other inlet connection is opened, so that fluid can reach the outlet connection from the opened fluid connection. If both fluid inlets are pressurized, in the case of a conventionally designed two-way valve, the respective valve element opens the inlet connection conveying the higher pressure, while the other inlet connection having a lower level of pressure is closed. In another design, as a reverse two-way valve, the respective valve element closes the inlet connection conveying the higher pressure, while the fluid connection conveying the lower pressure is opened toward the outlet connection.

In the case of a two-way valve formed as a double check valve, which has two valve elements, each of which is assigned to a fluid connection 1 and a fluid connection 2 forming an inlet connection, a control device in the form of a connecting element is provided between the valve elements, which couples the valve elements with one another during their movements between opened and closed positions. In the prior art, the valve elements are formed by switching balls, so that each check valve is formed by a ball valve.

Based on this prior art, the object of the invention is to provide a valve arrangement of the aforementioned type, which features particularly advantageous operating behavior.

According to the invention, this object is achieved by means of a valve device having the features of claim 1 in its entirety.

According to the characterizing portion of claim 1, a significant characteristic of the invention is that at least one of the valve elements, together with parts of the valve housing, forms a seat leak-tight closure part for the assigned fluid connection point. The replacement of the switching ball of a conventional ball valve with a seat leak-tight closure part that cooperates with assigned housing parts avoids the problems associated therewith which are encountered in the prior art. Forming the respective valve element with a seat leak-tight closure part allows a two-way valve to be implemented, in which all connections are non-leaking in the unactuated switch position and, in particular, a positively overlapped valve arrangement can be implemented.

In particularly advantageous exemplary embodiments, by contrast with the prior art, in which the valve elements of the double check valve are coupled with one another by means of a connecting element of the control device during their movements, the control device is designed such that it allows the valve elements to be controlled independently of one another. This removes the serious disadvantage of the conventional valve arrangements, namely that in a respective opening process all three connections are briefly connected to one another. This means that in the phase between the opening operation of a valve element and the closing operation of the other valve element in the prior art, a fluid short circuit is generated. With independently occurring activation of the valve elements, the switching operation can be configured such that the valve element which is assigned to the fluid connection to be opened performs its opening movement independent of the other valve element which remains in the closed position.

In an advantageous embodiment, the control device can have a rod-like control element that is displaceable in the valve housing in the direction of travel of the valve elements, during the displacement of which in the one or other direction of travel, the one or the other valve element can be carried along, independently of the respective other valve element.

In particularly advantageous exemplary embodiments, valve elements in the form of conical pistons are provided with a conical sealing surface which, in cooperation with an assigned sealing edge of the valve housing, forms a seat leak-tight closure. Thanks to the valve cone design, a fully leak-free closure can be implemented.

The arrangement may be obtained in a particularly advantageously manner, such that the arrangement can be such that the conical pistons are pretensioned in a closed position by means of an energy storage means, preferably by means of a spring in each case, in which closed position the one conical piston seals a first fluid connection assigned to it and the other conical piston seals a second fluid connection assigned to it, in a leak-free manner in each case, against a third fluid connection, which adjoins both sealing edges.

In a particularly advantageous design of the control device, the rod-like control element has effective piston surfaces opposite one another, to one of which the pressure of the first fluid connection and to the second of which the pressure of the second fluid connection can be applied. The switching movements of the conical pistons serving as valve elements are thus not effected by direct pressure actuation from the associated fluid connection, but rather as a result of mechanical control by means of the rod-like control element, which is moved by pressure applied to its piston surfaces. This advantageously allows an independent and, in each case, optimized damping to be provided for the switching movements of each conical piston, by forming various choke positions in the connecting lines leading to the piston surfaces of the rod-like control element. It is thus possible to implement an independent, individual damping for each conical piston in the switching operations.

When the valve device is designed as a standard two-way valve, the effective piston surfaces of the rod-like control element are connected with the fluid connection 1 or the fluid connection 2 in such a way that the control element is moved, by means of the pressure of the fluid connection conveying the respective higher pressure, in a direction in which it moves the conical piston associated with the fluid connection of higher pressure out of the closed position and leaves the conical piston associated with the fluid connection of the lower pressure in the closed position. In the same way, the arrangement can, when designed as a reverse control valve, be such that the effective piston surfaces of the rod-like control element are connected to the fluid connections in such a way that the rod-like control element is moved, by means of the pressure of the fluid connection conveying the respective higher pressure, in a direction in which it moves the conical piston associated with the fluid connection of the lower pressure out of the closed position and leaves the conical piston associated with the fluid connection of the higher pressure in the closed position.

In particularly advantageous exemplary embodiments, the control element has the form of a round rod, which engages both conical pistons coaxially, wherein bore holes, starting from the end-side piston surfaces and extending along the displacement axis in the rod, form ducts for the fluid connection of the piston surfaces with the respective associated fluid connection 1 or 2. This has the particular advantage that, by replacing the rod serving as the control element, an otherwise identically constructed valve device can be formed as a standard two-way valve or as a reverse two-way valve, by providing rods with different bore holes which form a corresponding duct course for the connection of the piston surfaces with the desired fluid connection.

In order to implement the desired decoupling of the opening and closing movements of the conical pistons in a simple manner, a predefined no-load stroke of the control element can be provided for the carrying along of the conical pistons by the rod-like control element.

For an adaptation of the switching behavior to application-specific requirements, the effective piston surfaces of the rod-like control element can have different sized effective piston surfaces. In addition, the arrangement can advantageously be such that each conical piston has a piston surface which, when the pressure of the respective associated fluid connection is applied to it, increases the spring force acting on the conical piston. The non-leaking seat leak-tight closure is facilitated by the correspondingly increased sealing force. With an advantageous design of the conicity of the conical piston below the seat, the opening behavior can be positively influenced by the stroke, e.g. in the form of a dampened opening.

The valve concept according to the invention not only ensures the described seat leak-tightness, it creates a positively overlapped valve concept at the same time, i.e. during the switching of the valve together with associated valve elements, no fluid connection exists between at least two of the at least three employed fluid connections of the valve housing. Thanks to the positive overlapping, said connections can be switched independently of one another and, as described above, dampened accordingly. The seat leak-tightness alluded to additionally results in improved energy efficiency in operation of the valve device. It has proven to be particularly advantageous to use the solution according to the invention for a reverse-operation valve in the manner described above.

The invention is explained in detail below with reference to exemplary embodiments depicted in the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 shows, in a symbol representation, the hydraulic circuit of an exemplary application for two-way valves;

FIG. 2 shows a longitudinal section, which is enlarged and depicted schematically simplified compared with an actual embodiment, of an exemplary embodiment of the valve device according to the invention in the form of a double check valve forming a reverse two-way valve;

FIG. 3 shows a longitudinal section, corresponding to FIG. 2, of an alternative exemplary embodiment of the invention in the form of a standard two-way valve, and

FIGS. 4 and 5 show corresponding longitudinal sections of two additional exemplary embodiments of the invention in the form of reverse two-way valves.

Of the multitude of possible applications for two-way valves, FIG. 1 shows, by way of an example, the use of a standard two-way valve 11 in a closed hydraulic circuit 13 for controlling a working cylinder 15. The hydraulic circuit 13 has a hydraulic pump 17 which can be driven by an electric motor, which hydraulic pump builds up hydraulic pressure in a first line 19 or a second line 21 depending on the direction of rotational drive. Of the three fluid connections of the two-way valve 11, one fluid connection 7 serving as an inlet connection is connected to the line 19 and one fluid connection 8 serving as a second inlet connection is connected to the line 21. The fluid connection 9, as an outlet connection, is connected both to a controlled openable check valve 23 and also to a controlled openable check valve 25. The check valves 23, 25 each have an inlet connection 27 and 29, which are connected to the line 19 and the line 21. The respective inlet connection 27, 29 can be opened against the closing force of a respective spring 31 and 33 by means of the pressure signal at the fluid connection 3 of the two-way valve 11, in order to connect an outlet connection 35 and 37 of the check valves 23, 25 to the piston chamber 39 or the rod chamber 41 of the working cylinder 15. In this arrangement, both check valves 23 and 25 supplying the working cylinder 15 can be opened from the fluid connection 9 of the two-way valve 11, irrespective of which of the lines 19 or 21 forms the pressure line or return line, depending on the direction of rotation of the pump 17, so that by selecting the drive of the pump 17, it is possible to control the operation of the working cylinder 15. In the manner conventional for such hydraulic circuits, a pressure-maintaining and energy recovery unit having a hydraulic accumulator 43 and a directional valve 45 is inserted between the lines 19 and 21. The directional valve 45 is a reverse two-way valve with a closed central position. Its first inlet connection 1 and its second inlet connection 2 are connected to the line 19 and to the line 21. The outlet connection 3 is connected to the hydraulic accumulator 43.

FIG. 2 shows a first exemplary embodiment of the valve device according to the invention in the form of a double check valve, which forms a reverse two-way valve. The associated valve housing 51 has an inner workspace, which extends in the form of a stepped bore hole along an actuation displacement axis. Due to the formed steps, the workspace is divided into sections of different diameter, of which a fluid chamber 53 offset to the left of the central area is connected to the fluid connection 1 as an inlet connection of the housing 51. A fluid chamber 55 offset to the right of the central area is connected to the fluid connection 2 as a second inlet connection of the housing 51, and a third fluid chamber 57 lying between them is connected to the fluid connection 3 as the outlet connection of the housing 51. The central fluid chamber 57 has a lesser diameter compared with the other fluid chambers 53, 55. The step of the valve housing 51 thus located at the transition to the respective adjoining fluid chambers 53 and 55 in each case forms a sealing edge 59 and 61 for forming a seat leak-tight closure in cooperation with a conical surface 63, which is formed as a sealing surface on an associated conical piston in each case. In front of these there is a first conical piston identified with the reference numeral 65, which first conical piston is assigned to the first fluid chamber 53 connected to the fluid connection 1, and a second conical piston identified with the reference numeral 67, which second conical piston is assigned to the fluid chamber 55 which is connected to the fluid connection 2. In the unactuated state depicted in FIG. 2, the left-side conical piston 65 forms, in cooperation with the sealing edge 59, a seat leak-tight closure part, while the conical piston 67 lying on the right-side forms, in cooperation with the sealing edge 61, a seat leak-tight closure part. In this state, all fluid connections 1, 2 and 3 are closed.

The conical pistons 65, 67 forming the valve elements of a double check valve are pretensioned in the closed position depicted in FIG. 2 by means of a respective pressure spring 69, each of which is supported on the surface of the conical pistons 65, 67 opposite the conical surface 63. For movements of the conical pistons 65, 67 out of the closed position as a result of pressure signals at the fluid connection 1 or fluid connection 2, a control device is provided having a control element that can be moved along the displacement axis. This is formed by a round rod 71, which is displaceably guided in the housing 51, and which has at each of the end sides a piston surface 73 and 75 that can be pressurized by fluid. The rod 71 engages the conical pistons 65, 67 coaxially, wherein these form an inner guide, which allows a relative movement of the rod 71, and which is sealed by a respective sealing element 77 in the case of each conical piston 65, 67. The rod 71 has a carrying device between the pistons 65, 67, formed by two radial projections 79, of which one, in each case, is located in proximity to an adjacent conical piston 65, 67. In movements of the rod 71 in the one or the other direction of displacement, the one or the other conical piston 65 or 67, upon completion of a short no-load stroke, which is determined by the amount of distance of the projections 79 from the adjacent conical piston 65, 67, is carried along and raised against the action of the respective assigned pressure spring 69 from the sealing edge 59 or 61, in order to connect the fluid connection 1 or the fluid connection 2 to the fluid connection 3 as an outlet connection.

As already mentioned, the example of FIG. 2 is constructed as a reverse two-way valve and this means that, in the case of a pressure signal at the fluid connection 1, its connection to the fluid connection 3 resulting from the abutment of the conical surface 63 of the conical piston 65 with the sealing edge 59 is closed, while the conical surface 63 of the other conical piston 57 is raised from the sealing edge 61, in order to connect the fluid connection 2 to the fluid connection 3. This opening movement of the conical piston 67 takes place by means of a displacement movement of the rod 71, during which the assigned projection 79 serving as a carrier contacts the conical piston 67 and moves the latter against the force of the pressure spring 69 towards the right in FIG. 2. This movement of the rod 61 takes place by means of pressurizing the piston surface 73 with the pressure of the fluid connection 1. For this purpose, a diagonal bore hole 81 is formed in the conical piston 65, starting from the fluid chamber 53, which diagonal bore hole leads to the chamber surrounding the pressure spring 69. As additional connecting ducts to the piston surface 73, a bore hole 83 is formed in the rod 71, starting from the end thereof and extending along the displacement axis, together with a transverse bore hole 85.

For the reverse switching operation, during which the higher pressure signal is applied at the fluid connection 2, the other conical piston 67 likewise has a diagonal bore hole 81, in order to supply the piston surface 75 located at the right side end of the rod 71 with the pressure of the fluid connection 2 via a longitudinal bore hole 83 and a transverse bore hole 85 of the rod 71. Accordingly, the rod 71 moves to the left in FIG. 2 for correspondingly carrying the conical piston 65 along out of the closed position, so that the fluid connection 1 is opened. During the respective switching operations, the conical piston 65 or 67 not carried along by the displacement movements of the rod 71 remains in the closed position.

For an independent damping of the switching operations for each valve side, i.e. for the movements of the conical piston 65 and of the conical piston 67, choke points can be inserted via orifices into the respective assigned diagonal bore holes 81 and the transverse bore holes 85 of the rod 71, which choke points are not depicted in the drawings.

The additional exemplary embodiment depicted in FIG. 3, which is constructed as a standard two-way valve, differs from the example of FIG. 2 merely by a different design of the ducts that extend in the rod 71 for the connection of the piston surfaces 73 and 75 to the fluid connections 1 and 2. For this purpose, the rod 71, starting from each piston surface 73 and 75, has a respective longitudinal bore hole 87 and 89, which extend parallel to one another, and of which the longitudinal bore hole 87 connects the piston surface 73 via a transverse bore hole 91 to the chamber of the conical piston 67 surrounding the spring 69, while the other longitudinal bore hole 89 connects the piston surface 75 via a transverse bore hole 91 to the chamber of the conical piston 65 surrounding the spring 69. Aside from the reversed switching behavior compared with FIG. 2, the functionality corresponds to the example of FIG. 2, wherein choke points may also be formed in the diagonal bore holes 81. For a change of the operating behavior (standard/reverse), in the case of an otherwise identical valve design, replacement of the rod 71 having the respective required bore holes is sufficient.

The exemplary embodiment of FIG. 4 is constructed, like the example of FIG. 2, as a reverse two-way valve, with the difference compared with FIG. 2 being that the connections of the piston surfaces 73 and 75 of the rod 71 to the fluid connections 1 and 2 are not formed via bore holes of the rod 71, but rather by means of connecting lines 93 and 95 guided in the valve housing 51, which start from the fluid connection 1 or from the fluid connection 2. The sides of the conical pistons 65, 67, which the respective pressure spring 69 adjoins, are thus not required as control pressure conveying pressure chambers, and this makes it possible to provide a pressure compensation for the conical pistons 65, 67. To this end, a continuous longitudinal duct 97 is formed in each conical piston 65, 67. By contrast with the examples of FIGS. 2 and 3, the sealing does not take place by means of sealing elements 77 between the conical pistons 65, 67 and the housing 51, but rather by means of sealing elements 78 between the rod 71 and the housing 51. If diagonal bore holes 81 are not included in the conical pistons 65, 67, a choking may be provided by way of an orifice in the line 93 and/or 95.

The exemplary embodiment of FIG. 5 corresponds to the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 4, except that a rod section 99 with an enlarged diameter is provided on the rod 71 on an end part located on the right side in the drawing. Thus, in the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 5, the piston surface 75 has a larger effective area than the piston surface 73 of the other end. This makes it possible, according to the selection of the sizes of the piston surfaces 73, 75, to adapt the switching behavior to respective application-specific requirements.

In the schematically simplified depiction of FIGS. 2 through 5, with respect to the valve housing 51, only the details functionally cooperating with the conical pistons 65, 67, such as the location of the fluid connections 1, 2, 3 and the assigned edges 59, 61, are depicted in detail. Because the rest of the structural design of the housing 51 can correspond to the prior art, details regarding the same are omitted for the sake of clarity. It is understood that, for the mounting of the movable functional parts, the housing 51 can be designed in multiple parts, which is depicted as one piece in the simplified depiction. 

1. A valve device, in particular an unlockable double check valve, preferably of the two-way valve type, comprising at least three fluid connections (1, 2, 3) provided in a valve housing (51); at least two valve elements (65, 67) that are displaceable in the valve housing (51), and comprising at least one control device (71) for controlling the respective valve elements (65, 67), characterized in that at least one of the valve elements (65, 67), together with parts (59/61) of the valve housing (51), forms a seat leak-tight closure part for the assigned fluid connections (1, 2, 3).
 2. The valve device according to claim 1, characterized in that a positively overlapped valve concept is implemented, in which, during the switching of the valve together with associated valve elements, no fluid connection exists between at least two of the at least three fluid connections (1, 2, 3).
 3. The valve device according to claim 1, characterized in that, by means of the valve elements (65, 67), at least the directly assignable fluid connections (1 and 2) can be damped during operation of the device.
 4. The valve device according to claim 1, characterized in that a control device (71) is provided, which allows the valve elements (65, 67) to be controlled independently of one another.
 5. The valve device according to claim 1, characterized in that the control device has a rod-like control element (71) that is displaceable in the valve housing (51) in the direction of travel of the valve elements (65, 67), during the displacement of which in the one or other direction of travel, the one or the other valve element (65, 67) can be carried along, independently of the other valve element (65, 67).
 6. The valve device according to claim 1, characterized in that valve elements in the form of conical pistons (65, 67) are provided with a conical sealing surface (63) which, in cooperation with an assigned sealing edge (59, 61) of the valve housing (51), forms a seat leak-tight closure.
 7. The valve device according to claim 1, characterized in that the conical pistons (65, 67) are pretensioned in a closed position by means of an energy storage means, preferably by means of a spring (69) in each case, in which closed position the first conical piston (65) seals a first fluid connection (1) assigned to it and the second conical piston (67) seals a second fluid connection (2) assigned to it, in a leak-free manner in each case, against a third fluid connection (3), which adjoins both sealing edges (59, 61).
 8. The valve device according to claim 1, characterized in that the rod-like control element (71) has effective piston surfaces (73, 75) opposite one another, to one of which the pressure of the first fluid connection (1) and to the second of which the pressure of the second fluid connection (2) can be applied.
 9. The valve device according to claim 1, characterized in that, when designed as a standard two-way valve, the effective piston surfaces (73, 75) of the rod-like control element (71) are connected with the fluid connection (1) or the fluid connection (2) in such a way that the rod-like control element (71) is moved, by means of the pressure of the fluid connection (1 or 2) conveying the respective higher pressure, in a direction in which it moves the conical piston (65 or 67) associated with the fluid connection of higher pressure out of the closed position and leaves the conical piston (65 or 67) associated with the fluid connection (1 or 2) of the lower pressure in the closed position.
 10. The valve device according to claim 1, characterized in that, when designed as a reverse two-way valve (45), the effective piston surfaces (73, 75) of the rod-like control element (71) are connected to the fluid connection (1) or the fluid connection (2) in such a way that the rod-like control element (71) is moved, by means of the pressure of the fluid connection (1 or 2) conveying the respective higher pressure, in a direction in which it moves the conical piston (65, 67) associated with the fluid connection of the lower pressure out of the closed position and leaves the conical piston (65 or 67) associated with the fluid connection (1 or 2) of the higher pressure in the closed position.
 11. The valve device according to claim 1, characterized in that the control element has the form of a round rod (71), which engages both conical pistons (65, 67) coaxially in a manner allowing a relative movement and which has a carrying device (79) between the conical pistons (65, 67) which, during the movement in the one or the other direction of displacement, takes the one or the other conical piston (65 or 67) out of the closed position and carries it along with it.
 12. The valve device according to claim 1, characterized in that bore holes (83, 87, 89), starting from the end-side piston surfaces (73, 75) and extending along the displacement axis in the rod (71), form ducts for the fluid connection of the piston surfaces (73, 75) with a respective associated fluid connection (1 or 2).
 13. The valve device according to claim 1, characterized in that a predefined no-load stroke of the control element (71) is provided for the carrying along of the conical pistons (65, 67) by the rod-like control element (71).
 14. The valve device according to claim 1, characterized in that the effective piston surfaces (73, 75) of the rod-like control element (71) have effective areas of different sizes.
 15. The valve device according to claim 1, characterized in that each conical piston (65, 67) has a piston surface which, when the pressure of the respective associated fluid connection (1 or 2) is applied to it, increases the spring force acting on the conical piston (65, 67). 